Democratic Republic of Congo bans RFI

New York, July 30, 2009--The
Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities today in the Democratic Republic of Congo to
lift a ban on the FM broadcasts of Radio France
Internationale (RFI) across the Central African country. The governmentsilenced the station in response to
its coverage of the ongoing conflict in the east, RFI said.

Speaking at a press
conference in the capital, Kinshasa, on Tuesday, Congolese Communications
Minister Lambert Mendé Omalanga accused the station of "developing since
several months a systematic campaign of demoralization of the armed forces of
the DRC," according to Agence
France-Presse.

Authorities
terminated their 2001 agreement with the French broadcaster on Friday, citing
violations of its terms and Congo's
1996 national press law, according to media reports. In a statement, RFI
announced that its transmitters in Kinshasa,
Matadi (southwest of Kinshasa), the northeast
city of Kisangani, and the southern city of Lubumbashi were off the air.

RFI stated that Congolese authorities faulted the station
for citing a July 22 AFP news item that
reported on the desertion of ex-rebels who had joined the national army as part
of a peace deal. The AFP report quoted the military spokesman of the United
Nations Organization Mission in DRC, Lt. Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich, as saying
that the deserters complained of nonpayment of salaries, ethnic conflicts, and
sluggish bureaucracy within the Congolese army.

"The charge of undermining army morale by reporting the news
is ridiculous," said CPJ's Africa program
coordinator, Tom Rhodes. "This ban amounts to censorship and should be lifted
immediately."

It
was the third time the authorities have banned RFI this year in connection with
the station's coverage. In June, CPJ called
on President Joseph Kabila to reverse bans of RFI in the eastern cities of
Bunia and Bukavu. Mende previously accused RFI of "throwing oil on the fire of
all of the armed conflicts in the country's east," and RFI journalist Ghislaine
Dupont of "attempting to destabilize the country."